Street-car signal.



No. 776,843. PATENTED DEC. 6, 1904. J. H. HOWARD.

STREET GAR SIGNAL.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 27, 1904. N0 MODEL.

2 SHEETSBHEET 1.

Imus/22w J17 [mad/mi.

No. 776,843. PATENTED DEC. 6, 1904'.

. J. H. HOWARD.

STREET GAR SIGNAL.

APPLIUATIOR' FILED SEPT. 27, 1904.

"M' HBHEE'I'B-SHEET 2.

MWIIH NITED STATES,

Patented December 6, 1904.

ATENT OFFICE.

STREET-CAR SIGNAL.

SPECIFICATfON forming part of Letters Patent No. 776,843, dated December6, 1904. Application filed September 27, 1904- Serial No. 226,164. (Nomodel.)

To ftZZ whom, it ntcty concern:

Be it known that I, J Alvins H. HOWARD, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Kansas City, in the county ofVVyandotte and State of Kansas, have invented certain new-and usefulImprovements in Street-(Jar Signals, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to street-car signals, and more especially to asignal disposed at the rear end of a car and adapted when set by themotorman thereof to indicate to a person attempting to cross the trackbehind the ear that a car is about to pass in the opposite direction onthe adjacent track, a signal of this character being a desideratumbecause of the numerous accidents which occur owing to thethoughtlessness with which persons leaving a car attempt to immediatelycross the track behind it.

A still further object is to produce a combined visual and audiblesignal of the character outlined.

To these ends the invention consists in certain novel and peculiarfeatures of construction and organization, as hereinafter described andclaimed, and in order that it may be fully understood reference is to behad to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 represents a sideelevation of a street-car equipped with signal mechanism embodying myinvention, the car being broken away so as to disclose an inoperativesignal at the front end of the car and a signal set at the rear end.Fig. 2 a top plan view of the rear end of the car. Fig. 3 is an enlargedsection on the line illlj III of Fig. 4. Fig. 4L is a section taken onthe line IV IV of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a horizontal section taken on theline V V of Fig. 1, but with the crank-arm therein disposedhorizontally, said section being on a much larger scale than Figs. 3 and4:. Fig. 6 is a horizontal section of said crankarm and the end of theshaft on which it is mounted. Fig. 7 is a detail perspective view ofsaid shaft. Fig. 8 is a horizontal section of a three-way valve forcontrolling the operation of the signal.

In the said drawings, 1 designates an electric street-car of the usualor any preferred type and adapted to be equipped with the customary orany preferred air-brake mechanism. Mounted upon each bumper of the car(provided such car is of that type where the motorman changes hisposition from one end of the car to the other at the end of each trip)is a tubular standardQ, having its lower end formed. with anair-cylinder 3, closed at its lower end by an apertured plug 4;, said.plug being connected by a pipe 5 with a valve-cas ing 6, connected alsoto an air-supply pipe 7 diametrically opposite pipe 5, and between thepipes the casing is also provided with an air-discharge pipe 8.

. 9 designates a valve mounted in said casing and having a diametricpassage 10 normally registering with the dischargepipe and a radialpassage 11 communicating with said passage 10 and normally registeringat its opposite end with pipe 5. This valve is mounted at the lower endof a suitably-enpported rod 12, provided with a handle 13 at its upperend for manipulation by the motorman in order that he may operate thevalve in the direction indicated by the arrow, Fig. 8, and thussynchronously dispose passage 10 in alinement with pipes 5 and 7, andthus establish communication between said pipes and cut out ofcommunication with the first-named pipe the discharge-pipe 8 forapnrposewhich hereinafter appca s.

Surmounting and communicating with the upper end of tubular standard 2is a hollow casing or head 14;, said head being preferably composed oftwo sections 15 and 16, bolted together,-as at 17, section 16 beingprovided with an internal boss 18, having a horizontal cylindricalpassage 19, wherein is journaled a short tubular shaft 20, and securedrigidly upon the inner end of said shaft in any suitable manner is acrank-arm 21 and upon the outer end. of said shaft a T-coupling crankarm22, the stem of said crank-arm having a tubular extension 23,registering with a hole 2% in the tubular shaft 20.

25 is a bolt rigidly carried by the crankarm 21 and insulated from thesame by headed plug 26 and plate 27. 28 is a bolt carried by arm 21 andhaving its head countersunk in said arm, as at 29, and screwed into theheaded end of sald bolt and extending through the insulated plate 27 andan insulating-washer 30 is a bolt 31, a contact-arm 32 being clampedrigidly between said insulating plate and washer by bolt 31, as shown. Asecond contact-arm 33 is secured on bolt 25 against insulating-plug 26by aclamping-nut 34 engaging said bolt, the ends of said contact-arms 32and 33, respectively, being adapted for engagement with a pair ofcontact-strips 35 and 36, secured rigidly to opposite sides of aninsulating-block 37, secured by preference to section 16 of thestandard-head and with said strips 35 and 36 extending concentrically ofthe axis of shaft 20, the lower ends of said insulating-block 37 andstrips 35 and 36 tapering inwardly, as at 38, in order that saidcontact-arms may at times be thrown out of engagement with said strips-that is to say, be out of engagement with said strips when theextension 23 occupies a pendent position, as shown at the front end ofthe car in Fig. 1, which position is its normal position.

Pivoted at its upper end to bolt 39 and held thereon by nut 40 andwasher 41 is a rod 42, which depends into the standard 2 and ispivotally connected at its lower end to a piston 43, disposed incylinder 3, so that when said piston is forced upward by air passingfrom supply-pipe 7 through passage 10 and pipe 5 into the cylinder saidcrank-arm 21 shall be swung upwardly to raise the extension-arm 23 toapproximately a horizontal position, this upward movement being limitedby one of the bolts 17, which is disposed in the path of said arm 21, asshown clearly in Fig. 4.

'44 and 45 designate insulated conductors or wires extending up throughpassage 46 in standard 2 to a point above cylinder 3 and thence upwardthrough the main passage of the standard to the lower ends,respectively, of contact-strips 35 and 36, the lower ends of saidconductors being adapted to be in circuit with the current supplied forthe propulsion of the car in any suitable or well known manner.

47 and 48 designate insulated conductors electrically connected at oneend respectively to contact-arms 32 and 33 and extending thence throughthe tubular shaft 20 and the hole 24 thereof and through the tubularextension 23 of crank-arm 22.

Mounted rigidly upon the outer end of said extension 23 is asubstantially oblong casing 49, havingzin its sides and near itsopposite ends mica-covered or other transparent windows 50, and betweensaid windows are suitably-supported incandescent lamps 51 of anypreferredtype. Between the lamps is suitably supported anelectromagnetic bell 52. Wire 47 leads to one of the lamps and by abranch wire 53 to the bell. Wire 48 leads to the other side of the belland thence, as at 54, to the other lamp, a wire 55 connecting theopposite sides of the lamps together. It will thus be seen that thelamps are connected in series and the bell in multiple, so that thebreaking of a filament in either lamp or both will not interfere withthe operation of the bell. Under ordinary conditions the current willpass through the lamps and the bell, though in the day-time the ignitionof the lamps will hardly be apparent, the noise produced by the bellbeing depended upon chiefly to attract the attention of a personcrossing in the rear of the car to the fact that the signal is set andthat a car is about to pass on the other track. At night the lightproduced by the lamps will be a factor as important as the bell innotifying such persons that a car is about to pass on the other track,and the fact that the light is discernible from either side of thecasing will serve to notify a person running for the car on which thesignal is set from the off side of the street of the approach of a caron the other track,

though, of course, an accident rarely occurs under such circumstances,because the approaching car is generally seen.

The practical operation is as follows: The motorman who has beensignaled to stop his car and who is of course in a position to see anapproaching car turns handle 13, so as to introduce air into cylinder 3,the handle being manipulated to set the signal slowly or quickly, asdesired. Shortly after the extension-arrn begins to move upward thecontactarms 32 and 33 come into engagement with contact-strips 35 and36, respectively, so that the light is flashed and the bell begins toring before the car is stopped, though, of course, this depends on themotorman, who may prefer to set his signal just as the car stops. Afterthe motorman has been given the signal to proceed and starts his car hereverses the manipulation of handle 13, so as to restore valve 9 to theposition shown in Fig. 8, and thus permit the weight of the elevatedparts to effect the discharge of the air through pipe 8 to theatmosphere, it being understood, of course, that the extension 23 willnot swing down and be arrested with any shock or jar because of the factthat the air is escaping at a slower proportionate speed from thecylinder than that with which the extension and arm tend to fall.

It will be understood, of course, that the valve disposed at the frontend of the car is the one that is connected to the signal mechanism atthe rear end, and consequently the signal mechanism at the front end ofthe car is not operated.

From the above description it will be apparent that I have produced astreet-car signal to guard against danger from the causes mentionedwhich operates efiiciently and reliably and which is obviouslysusceptible of modification in various particulars without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention. It will be furthermoreapparent that any equivalent means, electrical or me- IIS ehanical, forinstance, may be used in lieu of the compressed air for throwing thesignal to operative or permitting it to resume its inoperative position.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a street-car signal, a shaft, an arm carried thereby, a casingcarried by said arm and provided with a window, an electric signal inthe casing and electric conductors therefor, means for projecting saidarm rearwardly from the car in substantiallya horizontal position,contacts, contact-arms in circuit with the conductors and movable withsaid shaft, and means for operating said shaft and throwing saidcontact-arms in circuit with said contacts.

2. In a street-car signal, a shaft, an arm carried thereby, a casingcarried by said arm and provided with a Window, an electric signal inthe casing and electric conductors therefor, means for projecting saidarm rearwardly from the car in substantially a horizontal position,contacts, contact-arms in circuit with the conductors and movable withsaid shaft, means for operating said shaft and throwing saidcontact-arms in circuit with said contacts, and means for effecting thedisengagement of said contact-arms with said contacts.

3. In a street-car signal, a shaft, an arm carried thereby, acasingcarried by said arm and provided with a window, conductors, a pluralityof electric lamps in the casing and connected in series with saidconductors, an electromagnetic bell in the casing and connected inmultiple with said conductors and lamps, means for projecting said armrearwardly from the car in substantially a horizontal position,contacts, contact-arms, in circuit with the conductors and movable withsaid shaft, and means for operating said shaft and throw ing saidcontact-arms in circuit with said contacts.

i. In a street-car signal, a suitable support, insulated contact-stripscarried thereby, a shaft journaled on said support and provided with apair of crank-arms, insulated contactarms carried by one crank-arm andeach adapted to engage a contact-strip, a casing containing asound-producing signal and one or more light-producing signals,conductors connecting said signals with said contact-arms, and means foroperating said shaft and causing said contaet-arms to engage saidstrips.

5. In a street-car signal, a suitable support, insulated contact stripscarried thereby, a shaft journaled on said support and provided with apair of crank-arms, insulated contactarms carried by one crank-arm andeach adapted to engage a contact-strip, a casing containing asound-producing signal and one or more lightproducing signals,conductors connecting said signals with said contact-arms, anair-cylinder, a piston therein and linked to one of said cranlearms, andmeans to operate said piston.

6. In a street-ear signal, a suitable support, insulated contact stripscarried thereby, a shaft journaled on said support and IJIOVIClGL'l witha pair of crank-arms, insulated contactarms carried by one crank-arm andeach adapted to engage a contact-strip, a casing containing asouncl-prod ucing signal and one or more light-producing signals,conductors conneeting said signals with said contact-arms, anaircylinder, a piston therein and linked to one of said crank-arms, anair-supply pipe, a valvecasing thereon and provided with adischargepassage, a pipe connecting said casing with the air-cylinder,and a valve in such casing and adapted to open up communication be tweenthe supply-pipe and the cylinder or between the cylinder and thediseharge-passage.

7. The combination of a car having an airsupply pipe, a valve-casingthereon and provided with an escape-passage, a tubular stand ard on thebumper at the rear end of the car and provided with an air-cylinder, apipe connecting said cylinder with the valve-casing, a valve in thecasing to open up communication between the last-named pipe and thesupplypipe or between the cylinder and the dischargepassage, a piston insaid cylinder, a casing upon the upper end of the standard, a horizontalrock-shaft journaled in the casing, a crank-arm on the inner end of saidshaft and linked to the piston, curved eontact-strips within andinsulated from the standard-casing, conductors leading from saidcontactstrips down through the standard, contactarms carried by andinsulated from said crankarm and adaptedfor engagement with thecontact-strips, a tubular crank-arm on the outer end of said shaft, acasing upon the outer end of said arm and provided with one or morewindows, electric lamps in the casing, an elec tric bell in the easin g,and conductors connected to said contact-arms and extending through saidtubular crank-arm and electrically con-- nected to said lamps and bell.

8. Thecombination with a car having an airsupply pipe, a valve-easingthereon and provided with an escape-passage, a tubular standard on thebumper at the rear end of the car and provided with an air-cylinder, apipe connecting said cylinder with the valve-casing, a valve in thecasing'to open up communication between the last-named pipe and thesupplypipe or between the cylinder and the dischargepassage, a piston insaid cylinder, a casing upon the upper end of the-standard, a horizontal tubular rock-shaft journaled in the eas ing and provided with ahole externally of the casing, a tubular crank-arm on the outer end ofsaid shaft and communicating with the hole of said shaft, a casing onthe outer end of said tubular crank-arm and communicating with thepassage thereof, electric lamps and an electric bell in said casing, acrank-arm on the inner ITO means for projecting said arm from the car inI 5 substantially a horizontal position, contacts, contact-arms incircuit with said conductors and movable with said shaft, and means foroperating said shaft to cause said contact-arms to slide upwardly ordownwardly on said contacts.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in the presence of twowitnesses.

JAMES H. HOWARD.

WVitnesses:

HFG. RODGERS, G. Y. THORPE.

